PERSPECTIVE:
Titus 3:9 “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.”
BIBLICAL USES OF THE WORD “LAW”:
[The word “law” is used in several different ways in the bible. To ignore this truth will bring hopeless confusion in doctrine.]
(1) Law in the Generic Sense, the “Common Law”, or Law of Men (the first twelve uses of “law” in the bible)
Genesis 11:31 “. . . Terah took Abram . . . , and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law. . . .”
19:12 “And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters. . . .”
38:13 “And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.”
47:26 “And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part. . . .”
1st Corinthians 6:1 “Dare any of you . . . go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?”
Matthew 5:40 “And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.”
(2) Law Given by God (the 13th, 14th, and 15th uses of “law”in the bible)
Exodus 12:49 “One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.”
(This law of God is a particular category of law, referred to as an “ordinance”.)
(Exodus 12:43-49 “And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover. . . .”)
(1st Corinthians 5:7 “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. . . .”) (Christians do not observe passover because “a shadow of things to come” (Colossians 2:17) is finished when the thing it foreshadows has come.)
13:9 “And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt.”
16:4 “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.”
Romans 7:21-25 “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. . . . So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
(3) The Ten Commandments (a certain category of law given by God)
Exodus 24:12 “And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.”
Psalm 119:126-127 “It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law. Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.”
Matthew 5:17-19 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law . . . one of these least commandments. . . .”
1st Corinthians 15:56 “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”
Romans 2:13 “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”
(See vs. 21-22)
3:31 “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
7:7-13 “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. . . .”
James 1:22-25 “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
2:10-12 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
Χ Deuteronomy 5:22-29 “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always. . . .”) [The problem is a heart condition.]
(Psalm 119:32 “I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.”)
Χ Psalm 119:6 “Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.”
Χ v. 86 “All thy commandments are faithful. . . .”
Χ v. 151 “Thou art near, O Lord; and all thy commandments are truth.”
Χ v. 172 “My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.”
Χ 111:7 “. . . all his commandments are sure.”
[When somebody tells you, “We’re not under the law!” the two first real questions are, (1) “What law are you talking about?” and (2) If the law we’re talking about is not over us then where is it with respect to us?]
HINT for #1: Tell him to go shoot a cop and see what happens to him.
(RESULT: The district judge will tell him that he IS under the law and he will be going to the jail house.)
The rooky you’re talking to will say, “I didn’t mean we’re not under THAT law!” (There IS more than one law!)
HINT for #2: What changed about the first covenant was not a change in the law, but a change in the LOCATION of the law. In the first instance the Lord wrote it in stone and entrusted it to the ark; and in the second instance he wrote it in minds and hearts, and entrusted it to men. The law is not “over” us, for the simple reason that it is IN us! If “the law of God” is NOT “in” a man, then he is at “enmity against God” and “cannot please God.” (Romans 8:7-8)
Hebrews 8:7-10 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah . . . I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts. . . .”
(4) The Royal Law (another category of law given by God)
James 2:8-9 “If ye fulfil the royal law . . . Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well. . . .”
QUESTION: Is this all of the royal law?
ANSWER: No, it is only half of it, in fact the second half of it.
Mark 12:28-31 “And one of the scribes . . . asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. . . .”
Matthew 22:34-40 “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
[Neither one of these two commandments is “NEW TESTAMENT” and both were given through Moses.]
(1) Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
(2) Leviticus 19:18 “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”
(The first sums up 1-4 of the ten commandments, and the second sums up 5-10. In fact, they sum up the whole bible.)
(5) Method of “Judgment”
Deuteronomy 33:10 “They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law. . . .”
EXAMPLE: Numbers 5:29-30 “This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled; or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.” (referring to “method of judgment”)
(SEE: vs. 11-28)
Deuteronomy 22 [for examples of methods of judgment given for Israel]
John 7:51 “Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?”
(6) The Writings of Moses, the First Five Books of the Bible
Joshua 8:31 “. . . as it is written in the book of the law of Moses. . . .”
[The law of Moses IS the law of God:] (black bird analogy)
Luke 2:22-24 “And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”
Matthew 7:12 “. . . for this is the law and the prophets.”
[This is how the old testament was referred to. (It couldn’t be called the “old testament” until there was a “new” one.)]
22:35-40 “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (That is: the whole “old testament.”)
Luke 16:16-17 “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached. . . .”
[In other words the old testament ended with John the Baptist, where begins the new testament.]
[The “kingdom of God” is referred to 69 times in the new testament: it is not once mentioned in the old.]
(As the “kingdom of heaven” it is referred to 32 times in the new testament: it is not once mentioned in the old.)
John 1:45 “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth. . . .”
Acts 13:15 “And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them. . . .”
24:14 “. . . so worship I . . . believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. . . .”
28:17-23 “. . . he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.”
Luke 24:44 “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”
[That’s the whole old testament.]
EXPLANATORY VERSES:
Leviticus 7:1-7 “As the sin offering is, so is the trespass offering: there is one law for them. . . .”
(This is NOT the same law as for everything else!)
24:22 “Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country. . . .”
(The law of Israel was not to be partial or discriminatory with respect to foreigners.)
PROOF TEXTS USED BY DECEIVERS TO PROVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS DONE AWAY WITH:
(1) Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
(We need not even discuss whether “law” here refers to the “ten commandments”.) (Keep reading.)
Χ v. 15 “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”
QUESTION: What is sin?
ANSWER: 1st John 3:4 “. . . sin is the transgression of the law.”
Χ v. 16 “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
QUESTION: Obedience to WHAT?
(2) Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
[The deceivers will expect you to believe their assumption that “the law of sin and death” is the ten commandments.]
Χ 7:22-25 “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” (two different laws)
Χ 7:12 “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”
Χ 7:14 “For we know that the law is spiritual. . . .”
Χ Matthew 19:17 “. . . but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”
(3) Romans 10:4 “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
[This verse says NOTHING about ANY law being ended.]
[Definition for “the end”, as used here (as is found in the dictionary) is “result”, “consequence”, “outcome”, or “purpose”, in other words, “the end product” in the words of the 1611, as it is still used today.]
Χ 1st Peter 1:9 “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”
(Meaning: “the result” or “fruit”) (This verse does not say that faith is “ended.”)
Χ Romans 1:11 “For I long to . . . impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established. . . .”
(Meaning: “the purpose”)
Χ 6:21 “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.”
(Meaning: “the consequence”)
Χ v. 22 “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”
(Meaning: “the outcome”)
Χ 14:9 “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.”
(Meaning: “this purpose,” or “end result”)
(Said in other words:) Romans 10:4, “. . . Christ is the [fulfillment] of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
Χ Matthew 5:17-19 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”
Χ John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Χ vs. 21 “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. . . .”
Χ 1st John 5:2-3 “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
Χ Revelation 14:12 “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
Χ 22:14 “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
(4) Hebrews 7:18 “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.”
[You will be asked to accept that “the commandment going before” is a reference to the ten commandments. It is NOT. It refers to the commandment to take tithes of the people by Levi, as given in verse 5.]
Χ v. 5 “And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people. . . .” (It is tithing that is “done away with.”)
(5) Galatians 5:18 “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”
[You will be asked to accept that “the law” here is the ten commandments. It is NOT. This verse has a context which is the seventeen verses before this verse.]
Χ vs. 2-4 “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”
Χ v. 12 “I would they were even cut off which trouble you.”
Χ Colossians 2:10-14 “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands . . . blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way. . . .”
Χ Romans 2:29 “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart. . . .”
Χ 1st Corinthians 7:19 “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.”
(6) 2nd Corinthians 3:7-11 “But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?”
[It is the glory of Moses’ countenance which was to be done away. This passage is a comparison of “glory.”]
Χ EXAMPLE: 1st Corinthians 15:40-44 “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.”
Χ 2nd Corinthians 4:6 “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (Moses’ face was just a foreshadowing.)
Χ 10:17 “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
Χ Hebrews 3:1-3 “For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.”
Χ John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
Χ Revelation 21:23 “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”
[History:]
Deuteronomy 27:1-8 “And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”
Joshua 8:32 “And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses. . . .”
Proverbs 7:1-3 “My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.” (They didn’t!)
Jeremiah 31:33 “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. . . .” (The Lord will write it there himself!)
Romans 8:6-7 “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
(again) 7:14 “For we know that the law is spiritual. . . .”
Hebrews 10:16 “I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. . . .”
(7) Acts 15:24 “. . . certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law. . . .”
(The deceiver naturally pretends that “the law” here means “commandments” so he can have a proof text to wrest scripture, while not caring that he made the bible contradict itself.)
[As everybody should know, “the law” in this verse is “the law of Moses”. (See v. 5.)]
Χ Acts 15:5 “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
[The Lord has revealed their hypocrisy by comparing their handling of the law of Moses and the law of God generally.]
Χ John 7:23 “If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?”
[The Lord puts these hypocrites in the trap, that whereas they tell him he shouldn’t do anything on the sabbath day, they themselves circumcise their male babies on the eighth day even when it’s the sabbath!]
(Matthew 12:9-12 “Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.”)
(A) [The ten commandments speak nothing about circumcision.]
(B) [The new testament states repeatedly that we should keep the commandments.]
(C) [If Acts 15:24 is made to say that the “commandments” are NOT to be kept, then the bible contradicts itself.]
Χ 1st John 2:3 “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.”
Χ v. 4 “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
(8) Acts 15:28-29 “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye [1] abstain from meats offered to idols, and [2] from blood, and [3] from things strangled, and [4] from fornication. . . .”
(A) [NONE of these four “necessary things” are contained in the commandments.]
(B) [ALL four of these “necessary things” are contained in the law of Moses.]
(C) [God has condemned those who refer to his word as a “burden”!] (As ignorant men say of the sabbath.)
Χ Jeremiah 23:36 “And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.”
(D) [God has called the sabbath “a delight”.] (What commandment besides the fourth do they say is a burden?)
Χ Isaiah 58:13-14 “If thou . . . call the sabbath a delight . . . then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. . . .”
Χ Mark 2:27 “And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. . . .”
(E) [They are hypocrites who claim the love of God, and do NOT keep his commandments.]
Χ 1st John 5:2 “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.”
Χ v. 3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous.”
Χ 2nd John 6 “And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.”
Χ Revelation 12:17 “And the dragon was wroth with the woman [Israel], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Real Christians!)
Χ 14:12 “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
Χ 22:14 “Blessed are they that do his commandments. . . .”
(9) 1st Corinthians 6:12 “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
[The man who brings forth this verse in answer to the commandments not being done away with, is missing the point of the first half of the verse and is ignoring the second half of the verse.]
(See: v. 13 “Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.”
10:23 “All things are lawful for me, but . . . not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.”
Example: vs. 14-21
Example: 1st Corinthians 8:(all) “But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.”
THE PROBLEM:
It is written:
Hebrews 7:19 “For the law made nothing perfect. . . .” (the law of tithing)
10:1 “For the law . . . can never . . . make the comers thereunto perfect.” (the law of sacrificing)
(Verse 9 is used as a proof-text to say the “old testament” or the “first covenant” is done away with!)
Yet it is also written:
Matthew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
John 17:(all) (v. 23) “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. . . .”
2nd Corinthians 13:11 “Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect. . . .”
2nd Timothy 3:16-17 “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (Etc., etc.)
And the Lord notices if you’re not:
Revelation 3:2 “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”
THE SOLUTION:
Luke 6:40 “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.”
MIXING LAW AND GRACE (The false “pastors” say: “You can’t mix law and grace!”) (God did not say that, however!)
Deuteronomy 7:7_9 “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. . . .”
QUESTION: How long is “a thousand generations”?
John 15:10 “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. . . .” [The Lord mixed law and grace!]
Hebrews 5:8-9 “. . . though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. . . .”